CHARGERS ’90 : THE SCHEDULE : Week Off? Fine; Month of AFC Central? Uh-Oh

This newfangled NFL schedule seems to have had a profound impact on Charlie Joiner, the Chargers’ wide receiver coach.

“What extra week?” Joiner said. “What are you talking about?”

We’re talking about the NFL expanding the season from 16 to 17 weeks and giving each team a week off. Of course, it’s not something an assistant coach needs to know much about, because it’s not about Xs and Os. It’s about business. The NFL will now have more games to televise, which means more money for everyone.

“I can’t imagine what kind of money that is,” Chargers Coach Dan Henning said. “Well, maybe I can. It’s probably worth about $35 million. And most of that will probably go to the players.”

Most coaches feel the players will also benefit from an extra week of rest. But others say the bye week could wind up hurting some teams.

“It depends on when you get the extra week,” Henning said. “If you’re in a good position to make a run, you’ll want the week off to give players time to rest and recover from injuries. But if you’re out of it, you’ll probably just want to get the season over with.”

As the team with the fifth-place schedule, the Chargers’ bye week seemingly will come at an opportune time--between the 13th and 14th games and immediately before a season-ending stretch against Denver, Kansas City and the Raiders.

Last year, a break after week 13 wouldn’t have been much of a help. At 4-9, the Chargers were out of the race and pleading for the season to end.

But if they can stay in the playoff race through 13 games this year, the Chargers will probably welcome a two-week break to rest the weary and injured. The other four AFC West teams get their bye after the eighth week.

The Chargers will have to live with the fact that they play four consecutive games against AFC Central teams. After opening at Dallas, the Chargers begin that stretch in San Diego Sept. 16 against Cincinnati--picked by many to be in the Super Bowl.

From there, the Chargers play at Cleveland Sept. 23, at home against Houston Sept. 30 and at Pittsburgh Oct. 7. After the Steelers and Oilers dominated the AFC in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, the Central was down for a while. But last year, Cincinnati was the only division team that failed to make the playoffs, finishing 8-8.

“Basic logic says that they have three of best five teams in the AFC,” said Henning, who excluded only Cleveland from that group.

Some fifth-place schedule, huh?

“People say we play a last-place schedule, but we play as many playoff teams (five) as anybody in our division,” Henning said.

In addition to its home-and-home series against the AFC West, San Diego also plays the New York Jets (home and away) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers--both last-place teams a year ago. So there are some rewards for finishing 6-10.

Or are there?

“What’s a break?” Joiner asked. “None of these teams in the NFL are a break. You have to be ready to play every week.”

Ted Tollner, the quarterback coach, agreed.

“As coaches, we can’t get too into the schedule,” he said. “We’re not in a position to overlook anybody. If you’re not ready to play every week, you’re going to get whipped.”